Photo: Toyota Europe
A newly disclosed United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) filing shows Toyota wants a patent for a new type of steering wheel. The Japanese carmaker wants you to be warned about road dangers while driving but wants this to happen in a safer way. Here’s how it plans on alerting you in the future.
In today’s world, we’re generally so connected that we distract ourselves from what’s in front of us. That’s why cars come now with many safety systems like radars and cameras. They’re meant to help us steer away from trouble. Toyota wants to double down on this by adding new steering wheels with adjustable friction to its cars. It feels like a different strategy from the diameter adjusting one we told you about a couple of days ago. But it ends up having the same positive outcome with some interesting modifications.
Essentially, Toyota is looking to add specific pressure points on the steering wheel that can rapidly inflate in case the car’s systems detect an unusual behavior or a move that can cause an accident, like changing lanes without making sure the road is clear first. This has the potential to become a better solution to warn drivers of possible negative outcomes.
The USPTO filing shows “a need exists for improved systems for allowing a vehicle to intervene with a driver’s control of a steering wheel to adjust a driving operation of the vehicle without harming or distracting the driver.” This might sound dull for a moment, but if you’ve ever driven a Mercedes-Benz with the assistance features enabled, you’ll understand how useful it might become to have a responsive steering wheel that you can grip better. The German carmaker made it impossible for a driver to change lanes unexpectedly. Not only that it beeps at you, but you also get red warning signs on the dashboard, a specific alarm is being played, and the car will steer you back in the lane while gently but rapidly applying the brakes for one second.
Having a steering wheel that inflates in some specific points might be the better option for alerting a driver a mistake is about to happen. We’ll have to see it in practice before deciding on its usability.
Essentially, Toyota is looking to add specific pressure points on the steering wheel that can rapidly inflate in case the car’s systems detect an unusual behavior or a move that can cause an accident, like changing lanes without making sure the road is clear first. This has the potential to become a better solution to warn drivers of possible negative outcomes.
The USPTO filing shows “a need exists for improved systems for allowing a vehicle to intervene with a driver’s control of a steering wheel to adjust a driving operation of the vehicle without harming or distracting the driver.” This might sound dull for a moment, but if you’ve ever driven a Mercedes-Benz with the assistance features enabled, you’ll understand how useful it might become to have a responsive steering wheel that you can grip better. The German carmaker made it impossible for a driver to change lanes unexpectedly. Not only that it beeps at you, but you also get red warning signs on the dashboard, a specific alarm is being played, and the car will steer you back in the lane while gently but rapidly applying the brakes for one second.
Having a steering wheel that inflates in some specific points might be the better option for alerting a driver a mistake is about to happen. We’ll have to see it in practice before deciding on its usability.
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